CSRC Newsletter - June 2013

In the 1970s Ricardo Valverde (1946–1998) started photographing Los Angeles through various series that explored the neighborhoods in which he lived (South Central and Boyle Heights) and areas he encountered day-to-day through his work at the Greater Los Angeles Community Action Agency in the mid-1970s and then at the Department of Water and Power until the early 1990s. In setting out to document Los Angeles, Valverde did so as a neighbor or participant in the city’s communities that he photographed, not as an outsider documenting a romantic, exotic, or stereotypical Other. Valverde was highly influenced by the New York School of street photographers, especially painter-turned-photographer Roy DeCarava. Valverde shared DeCarava’s emphasis on the personal vision he brought to documenting the African American community in New York. For Valverde, the photograph was never a document, pure and simple, but a work of art, a visual artifact of urban modern life, and a personal expression. The result was what Ramón García calls—in our forthcoming A Ver: Revisioning Art History book on the artist—“an uneasy and critical beauty” and “surrealist disquiet.”  For more on Valverde, see my “Editor’s Commentary” in the current issue of Aztlán.

 

As we end the academic year, I want to take the opportunity to thank the many people who have contributed to our programs and our mission and to express my gratitude to our diverse and talented staff. Working with civic leaders, community-based organizations, educators, community scholars, artists, students, and academics, the CSRC has sought not only to preserve the past but also to facilitate new research and public programs. Like Valverde, our work strives to document the undocumented, not as a simple “authentic” image of the margins, but as a complex and multifaceted vision of our society.

 

 

CSRC Press receives ten awards for its 2012 books

Four books published by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press won ten awards in eight categories at the Latino Literacy Now’s fifteenth annual International Latino Book Awards, held May 30, 2013, at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City. “These awards recognize the important new scholarship being done in the field today,” says CSRC director Chon A. Noriega, who attended the awards. “And we are especially delighted to receive recognition for our fortieth-anniversary edition of one of the foundational poetry texts for the Chicano Movement, Alurista’s Floricanto en Aztlán.”

 

The CSRC Press received four first-place and three second-place awards and three honorable mentions:

 

• The Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings, by Agustín Garza, with essays by Jonathan Clark and Chris Strachwitz: 1st Place, Best History Book (English); 1st Place, Best Reference Book (English); and 2nd Place, Best Nonfiction Multi-Author

 

• The second edition of Floricanto en Aztlán by Alurista, with illustrations by Judithe Hernández: 1st Place, Best Poetry Book One Author (Spanish); Honorable Mention, Best Arts Book (Spanish or Bilingual); and Honorable Mention, Best Gift Book

 

• Rafael Ferrer, by Deborah Cullen: 1st Place, Best Arts Book (English)

 

• The Latino Theatre Initiative, Center Theatre Group Papers, 1980-2005, by Chantal Rodríguez: 2nd Place, Best History Book (English); 2nd Place, Best Reference Book (English); and Honorable Mention, Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book

 

This is the largest number of ILBAs that the CSRC has won in a single year, bringing the total to twenty-four awards. In 2012 the CSRC Press received first-place awards from the ILBA and the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) for its L.A. Xicano exhibition catalog.

 

The International Latino Book Awards are held annually in New York City during BookExpo America, the largest publishing trade show in the United States. The awards are presented by Latino Literacy Now in partnership with Las Comadres para las Americas and the Instituto Cervantes.

 

Publications from the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press explore the Chicana/o and Latina/o experience. They showcase the latest research in a range of disciplines, presented in a variety of formats: the pre-eminent journal in the field, award-winning books, policy briefs and research reports, and historical films on DVD. CSRC Press was founded in 1969 to provide a voice for young Chicana/o academics who could not find mainstream publishers. The Press’s contribution to academic scholarship continues to grow as Chicana/o and Latina/o studies develop in new directions. The A Ver: Revisioning Art History series is distributed by the University of Minnesota Press. All other CSRC Press books are distributed by the University of Washington Press.

 

Undergraduates present paper with support from CSRC

Three UCLA undergraduate students—Katherine Batanero, Cesar Ponce, and Fabiola Gonzalez—were invited to present their co-authored paper “Takin’ Critical Race Theory to the Streets of L.A.: Transfer Student Reflections on Critical Race Pedagogy” at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association Conference on May 31 in Nashville, Tennessee. All three students arrived at UCLA in 2012 through the AAP Freshman/Transfer Summer Program, are Chicana/o studies majors, and utilized the CSRC Library in their research. The CSRC was able to partially offset the students’ travel expenses with support from the Carlos M. Haro Scholarship Fund, established to honor Haro’s forty-plus years of contributions to the CSRC and UCLA. If you would like to make a contribution to this or another CSRC fund, please visit our Giving page.

 

USPS releases stamp featuring Tejano musician

On May 13 the U.S. Postal Service released a Lydia Mendoza (Forever®) stamp honoring the life of one of the first stars of Tejano music. The stamp features a black-and-white publicity photo of Mendoza (1916–2007) strumming a twelve-string guitar. The photo of Mendoza, taken in the 1950s, was provided by the Arhoolie Foundation. Recordings by Mendoza are included in the Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings. The CSRC and the UCLA Library have worked with the foundation to digitize these recordings for public listening, and the CSRC Press has published a history and overview of the digital collection as part of its Chicano Archives series. The stamp is one of several that inaugurate the USPS’s Music Icons series. To purchase the stamp and related items, visit the USPS.

 

Visiting scholar publishes and presents research

Juanita Heredia, a CSRC visiting scholar for 2012-13, has a forthcoming article in the Journal of American Studies of Turkey. For a special issue on transnational Latina/o studies, she contributed the essay “Afro-Dominican American Women Writers: Dialogues on Gender and Race in Angie Cruz’s Soledad and Nelly Rosario’s Song of the Water Saints.” Heredia was also invited to be a guest contributor for a special issue of the UCLA publication Mester that focuses on hemispheric intersections; her article is titled “From the New Heights: The City and Migrating Latinas in Real Women Have Curves and Maria Full of Grace.” Finally, at the 20th International Comparative Literature Association Congress at the Université Paris-La Sorbonne (Paris IV), July 18–24, she will present research that she conducted during her time at the CSRC. Her presentation, “The Latina Intellectual and the City: Negotiating Transnational Experiences in Hungry Woman in Paris and The World in Half,” will look at the role of the Latina intellectual in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Paris. 

 

Film society to screen Gutiérrez film

On June 12 at 7:30 p.m., the Northwest Chicago Film Society (NCFS) will screen Chicano Love Is Forever/Amor Chicano Es Para Siempre, directed by pioneer Chicano filmmaker Efraín Gutiérrez. This 1977 film was presumed lost for twenty years, until CSRC director Chon A. Noriega worked with the director to recover the film and restore it through the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Gutiérrez's previous film, Please, Don't Bury Me Alive!/Por Favor, No Me Entierren Vivo! (1976) was rereleased on DVD in 2007 as part of the CSRC’s Chicano Cinema & Media Arts Series, available here. CSRC is working on DVD editions of his other films. For more information about the screening, visit the NCFS website.

 

Aztlán assistant editor passes baton

David O'Grady, doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies and assistant editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies since 2009-10, will be leaving his post at the CSRC Press this month to pursue teaching opportunities. We offer him a fond farewell and thank him for his dedication and exceptional work. The CSRC is pleased to announce that Karrmen Crey, also a doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies, will be taking over the assistant editor duties.

 

Congratulations to graduating student workers

The CSRC congratulates its student workers who are graduating this spring. Angel Diaz, Carissa Garcia, Samantha Montano, and Miguel Murillo assisted with the processing, preservation, description, and digitization of select CSRC Library collections, including the Maria Acosta Duran Papers, James and Margarita Mendez Papers, Homeboy Industries Records, Ricardo Muñoz Papers, Carlos Velez-Ibañez Papers, and the Madrigal v. Quilligan court documents. In addition, Josue Reynaga has been invaluable to the administrative staff during his years at UCLA. We will greatly miss each of these dedicated individuals. We thank them for their service and wish them the very best.

 

Zapata exhibition profiled on Enfoque Los Angeles

The Telemundo program Enfoque Los Angeles featured a segment that included the CSRC’s first student curator, Julia Fernandez, talking about the exhibition she curated, Chican@s (re)Imagining Zapata. Another segment in the same program addressed the life of educator Sal Castro and the advancement of Chicanos since the Chicano Moratorium, featuring commentary from UCLA professor and former CSRC director David Hayes-Bautista. The exhibition segment can currently be viewed on Facebook here.

Enfoque Los Angeles (Telemundo), May 26, 2013

 

“Rita Gonzalez: LACMA Curator and Defender of Subtlety”

In its annual “People” issue, L.A. Weekly profiled Rita Gonzalez, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) associate curator of contemporary art. Gonzalez, Howard N. Fox, and CSRC director Chon A. Noriega co-curated the exhibition Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement. Gonzalez was also a co-curator of the Pacific Standard Time exhibition Asco: Elite of the Obscure. The CSRC was a lender to both shows.

L.A. Weekly, May 15, 2013 (PDF)

 

“Mexico DF Acoge una Retrospectiva de Asco”

El País reviewed Asco: Elite of the Obscure, a Retrospective, 1972–1987, now on view at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. The CSRC is a lender to the show.

El País, May 15, 2013 (PDF)

 

Tribute to Castro reprinted in local Eastside paper

The commentary “Write Your Own History: Sal Castro's Legacy,” by Carlos M. Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus, was reprinted in a special edition of the Eastside newspaper Brooklyn & Boyle that was dedicated to Castro. The beloved educator and activist died April 15.

Brooklyn & Boyle, May/June 2013 (PDF)

 

“How Does NBC Plan to Climb Back Up Rating's Ladder?”

CSRC director and cinema and media studies professor Chon A. Noriega was interviewed for a story on National Public Radio's Morning Edition concerning NBC’s struggle to regain viewership. The story was also mentioned on the UCLA Newsroom report.

Morning Edition (NPR), May 10, 2013 (PDF)

UCLA Newsroom, May 10, 2013 (PDF)

 

“Chicano Art Movement attends ‘Chican@s (re)Imagining Zapata’”

The writer for the blog Chicano Art Movement paid a visit to the CSRC to attend the library exhibition Chican@s (re)Imagining Zapata, curated by Julia Fernandez, a UCLA senior majoring in art history. Also mentioned are artworks by Ramiro Gomez, Malaquias Montoya, Carlos Almaraz, and Frank Romero that have been donated to the center.

Chicano Art Movement (blog), May 7, 2013 (PDF)

 

CSRC scholars’ letter published in The New York Times

Vilma Ortiz and Edward Telles—professors of sociology at UCLA and Princeton University, respectively—wrote a letter to The New York Times in response to two recent op-eds concerning Latino and specifically Mexican immigration and assimilation. Ortiz and Telles co-authored Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race (2008) based on research conducted at the CSRC. For more information about the Mexican American Study Project they conducted, click here. An extended response by Ortiz has been posted on the CSRC website in a new section called Commentaries.

The New York Times, May 2, 2013 (PDF)

The Daily Beast published a response to one of the same op-eds and cited Ortiz and Telles's study. The Daily Beast, April 24, 2013 (PDF)

 

“Chicano Males Stare Down Stereotypes”

Harry Gamboa Jr.'s photographic series “Chicano Male Unbonded” was the subject of a "Picture Show" story on the National Public Radio blog. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega was photographed for the series, and his portrait appears in the story.

NPR (blog), April 25, 2013 (PDF)

 

Anniversary celebration of UCLA hunger strike for Chicano studies

Please join us in the CSRC library on Monday, June 3, 3:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m., for a twentieth-anniversary celebration of the UCLA hunger strike that led to the creation of the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. The event will include a panel discussion with original strikers and negotiators Cindy Montañez, Josefina Santiago, and Cristine Soto DeBerry and moderator José M. Aguilar-Hernández, plus a documentary photo exhibition on the women involved with the strike curated from the personal collection of Raúl Ruíz, journalist and professor of Chicano studies at California State University, Northridge.

New collection in process

The Arte de Mexico Festival Archive collection of approximately seven linear feet of papers has been donated by Armando Durón, Arte de Mexico Festival president, art collector, attorney, and friend of the CSRC. The collection represents the working files of the organization. The festival, which celebrated Mexico's influence on arts and culture in Los Angeles, took place over four months in 1991.

 

Additions to existing archival collections

The CSRC has acquired an additional linear foot of material to be added to the Homeboy Industries Records. These materials were donated by Father Gregory Boyle and include photographs, personal papers, realia, and ephemera reflecting Boyle’s important work at Homeboy Industries. Researchers who wish to consult this collection may contact the librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

 

CSRC librarian to present at ALA annual meeting

This year the American Library Association’s annual meeting will be held in Chicago from June 27 through July 2. For the session “Preserving History: Establishing a National Latino Digital Archive,” CSRC librarian Lizette Guerra—along with Lillian Castillo-Speed, head librarian at the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and Romelia Salinas, head of access services at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University, Los Angeles—will highlight the Latino Digital Archive Group’s progress toward its goal of creating a national Latino Digital Archive, a digital collection of freely available materials that represent the Latino community. They will also discuss the range of materials that will be collected in the archive. For more information visit the ALA website.

 

CSRC participates in Buddy Day at UCLA

On May 24 the CSRC hosted nineteen young students from La Causa Youth Build, a charter school in Boyle Heights serving students that have been pushed out of traditional high school. These students visited UCLA as part of Bruin Buddy Day, which is hosted by the UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships (CCCP). Buddy Day is an opportunity for current UCLA students who have transferred to campus to talk with La Causa youth about the paths for transferring from a community college to a major university like UCLA. Students had an opportunity to sit in on a UCLA lecture, take a campus tour, hear from admissions representatives and a student panel, and listen to a presentation about the CSRC Library. For more information, or if you are interested in supporting Bruin Buddy Day, please visit www.cccp.ucla.edu.

 

CSRC Library welcomes a new Getty intern

The CSRC is again participating in the Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program. These summer internships are structured around current and ongoing CSRC archival projects in the arts. This year, the CSRC welcomes Jessica Baden as its library intern. Baden recently graduated from Loyola Marymount University with an emphasis in history and Chicana/o studies. She will be assisting library staff with the organization of the CSRC Oral History Collection. We look forward to working with her on this important project.